Angels continue to be shifty on defense

GOODYEAR, Ariz. — The Cleveland Indians were batting and Nick Swisher’s name blared over the public address speakers at Goodyear Stadium on Monday afternoon. Like actors on a stage, the Angels’ infielders took their places on cue.

First baseman C.J. Cron moved a few feet inside the white chalk of the foul line, on the deep edge of the infield dirt. Second baseman John McDonald went to shallow right field. Shortstop Andrew Romine and third baseman Grant Green stood at double-play depth on either side of second base. Green was separated from the left-field foul line by at least 70 feet.

These infield shifts aren’t new to baseball, but the Angels rightfully get attention for theirs.

According to data recently released by TheHardballTimes.com, Angels infielders shifted 217 times when a ball was hit in play in 2013, which ranked 17th in MLB. By one measure, the Angels’ shift was more effective than all but two major-league teams.

Opponents registered a .235 batting average on balls in play against the Angels’ shift; only the A’s (.222) and Braves (.232) posted lower numbers in 2013. Remarkably, only four teams allowed a higher batting average on balls in play than the Angels (.311) when the infielders didn’t shift.

Put differently, infield shifts were more essential to the Angels’ success turning hits into outs than any team in baseball.

“From Day 1, we always had our reference point on the defensive side,” manager Mike Scioscia said. “I don’t know what other teams did, but we always had our reference points on the defensive side on the infield which we called the ‘V’ and would work off of that.”

This year, Scioscia added, “we’re going to be able to slice the field up a little bit more with some information, but it’s not a dramatic deviation from the template we’ve used on the defensive end before.”

Shortstop Erick Aybar, who broke in with the Angels in 2006, said he hasn’t seen the shifts change much over the years. That’s a contrast to some of the newcomers to the clubhouse.

Third baseman David Freese spent the last six seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, who were among baseball’s least frequent infield shifters last season.

“With St. Louis we would do it every now and then depending on how pull-happy some big hitters were,” Freese said. “Playing Boston (in the World Series) we did it with (David) Ortiz, guys like that.”

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Veteran catcher Chris Iannetta compared the size of the Angels’ batted-ball data packets on opponents to that of a college textbook. Those packets simply didn’t exist when he was a rookie with the Colorado Rockies in 2006.

Infielder Ian Stewart, a non-roster invitee in Angels camp, came up through the Rockies organization at the same time as Iannetta.

“A lot of times we’d be asking ‘does anybody know this guy? Does anybody know this guy?’ Now the scouts have all that info on every player,” Stewart said.

The fact the Angels have been shifting for years under Scioscia doesn’t mean they shift more than most teams, as the 2013 data indicates. And just because the Angels have a dedicated player information coach (Rick Eckstein) and a major league player information coordinator (Nick Francona), doesn’t mean they have more data either.

“I think the real difference is how teams are able to process and manipulate the data to gain an advantage,” Francona said. “Everybody’s watching the same games. There’s not a ton of information that’s terribly secret.”

A player’s capacity to process the data hasn’t changed over the years. The Angels hired Francona last November to distill those mountains of data into digestable pieces for players and coaches. Once the information has been distilled, infield coach Alfredo Griffin, bench coach Dino Ebel and Scioscia all have input from the bench during the game.

Infield shifts aren’t merely the result of players studying data or receiving direction from coaches, veteran infielder John McDonald said.

“A lot of times it’s the coaching, it’s the information you get, the feel of the hitter, where he’s hit the ball in the past, how his swings are, who’s pitching,” he said. “It’s not always exactly the same. It changes from pitcher to pitcher with the same hitter.”

McDonald acknowledged that the data is interesting, but questioned whether infielders shift more now than when he broke in with Cleveland in 1999. Then, he said had just bought his first computer and cell phone, but he already knew how to shift.

“We didn’t call it shifting,” he said. “I just played where the guy was going to hit the ball.”

Angels beat Tribe

Right-hander Jered Weaver gave up five hits, three runs and two walks in 4 1/3 innings of the Angels’ 8-3 win over the Indians. C.J. Cron and Grant Green went 2 for 4, while Matt Long (4 for 5) fell a home run short of the cycle.

Buddy Boshers, Robert Carson, Josh Wall, Brandon Lyon and Michael Kohn combined to toss 4 2/3 innings of scoreless relief for the Angels (5-6-1), scattering two hits and two walks.

Dodgers tie A’s

Andre Ethier and Juan Uribe hit home runs in the Dodgers’ 8-8 tie against the Oakland A’s. Hyun-Jin Ryu pitched five innings and allowed three hits, one run, walked one and struck out four in his penultimate spring start for the Dodgers (4-6-4).

Dodgers right-hander Brandon League allowed a home run to Josh Donaldson while recording just two outs in relief. Brian Wilson allowed two runs in one-third of an inning, while Kenley Jansen (1 IP) and Chris Perez (2/3 IP) didn’t allow a run.

Notable

The Dodgers optioned Matt Magill and reassigned J,C, Boscan, Carlos Frias, Brendan Harris and Clint Robinson to their minor-league camp. ... Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke threw a bullpen session to catcher A.J. Ellis two days after pitching a two-inning simulated game. Greinke’s next Cactus League outing will be his first since he strained a muscle in his right calf in his debut Feb. 28. ... The Angels optioned left-hander Michael Roth to Triple-A Salt Lake, and reassigned four pitchers to their minor-league camp: Jarrett Grube, Michael Morin, Mark Sappington and Justin Thomas. ... Angels left-hander Sean Burnett threw 30 pitches off a mound for the first time in seven months. He did not throw with full intensity and was “a little fatigued” by the time he finished by his own admission, “but that’s normal.” ... Freese had a blood blister on his right foot popped Sunday. He participated in workouts Monday and could play in a game as early as today.